Accessing information over the World-Wide Web (“web”) portion of the Internet is a popular activity for many computer users. Data transmitted over the Internet is often provided in the form of web pages that are served by a web server process running on a server computer and accessed by a web browser process running on a client computer. Present web-based technologies allow web servers to integrate and provide a great deal of information in their web pages. Moreover, many different types of content can also be provided within a web page. For example, a particular web page may have static text or graphic information in one display area, links to other web pages in a second display area, and streaming audio or video in yet another display area.
Accessing the Internet and its services through a client computer is typically accomplished by invoking a network application program, such as a web browser. The network application program acts as an interface between the user and the Internet. Network application programs are typically client applications that accept commands from the user and obtain data and services from the Internet by sending requests to server applications, such as web servers on other computers at other locations on the Internet.
The web browser application programs are used for retrieving and viewing information from the Internet. Some examples of commercially available web browsers include Internet Explorer™ by Microsoft® Corporation of Redmond, Wash. and Netscape Navigator™ by Netscape Communications® of Mountain View, Calif.
The web browser typically has a graphic user interface (GUI) that allows a user to control the web browser functions through a mouse and keyboard by pointing and clicking various control buttons that access and invoke various commands. The control buttons are typically provided in a dedicated area of the web browser, usually referred to as the “taskbar” or “toolbar” of the web browser. By using the cursor to operate the functional buttons or pull down menus of the web browser taskbar the user is able to control the displayed information from computers on the Internet. The taskbar also usually contains an area into which the user can type in an address called a URL (“Uniform Resource Locator”) to obtain a desired HTML document or view a particular web page.
Web pages accessed through a web browser may be found on several other remote Internet host computers. When the user selects an HTML document link, the web browser can retrieve the document or data that the link refers to by using HTTP, FTP, Gopher, or other Internet application protocols. Once the desired HTML document or new web page is downloaded, its contents are displayed in the main display area of the web browser. The web page may include content in various different forms, such as text, graphics, video clips, audio clips, and the like. The web page may also include embedded links that allow the user to access other data or web pages.
Because of the amount of information that is typically provided in average web pages, display space is at a premium. Often, web pages contain information that is additional to the content that comprises the downloaded web page. One example of such intermediate information is an advertising message. In present web based systems, such advertising messages are frequently provided in the form of “pop-up” banner ads that occupy or cover a portion of the web display area. This often results in a crowded web display area in which the displayed intermediate content displaces some of the content that the user is primarily interested in. Moreover, many current pop-up message systems cause a pop-up message to appear in a window that covers or interferes with a portion of the active window that the user is viewing. This can be annoying since it interrupts the user's viewing experience and forces the user to close the pop-up message window or send it to the background.
In many cases, while the user is viewing the content of the web page or clicking on embedded links, certain areas of the browser window are typically unused. In some web browser programs, these unused areas, also referred to as “clear space” can constitute a significant percentage (e.g., 25%) of the total web browser display area. A disadvantage of present web browser systems is that this unused clear space is under-utilized for the display of intermediate content data. Instead, current systems randomly place pop-up message windows within the active viewing area, thus potentially covering content that the user desires to view.
Besides web browsing systems for personal computers, other types of display devices, such as televisions, portable computing or game devices, cellular phones, and the like also typically involve the display of primary content that may not occupy the entire viewing area. For these device systems, an unused portion of clear space may also be available for utilization by parties that are configured to communicate with these systems.